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For the first time in a looong time - several years - I decided to do the oil change in my truck myself, instead of allowing one of the local auto maint or oil change establishments do it for me. After purchasing the oil & filter for about $28 it isn't much of a cost savings.
I remember when I used to change the oil myself in the late 80's & 90's, the most difficult part of the job is removing the oil filter. Part of the challenge of this task today is I'm not exactly sure where the filter is located - I have a general idea, but this is the first time I'm doing it on this vehicle, my '98 Ford Ranger.
Well, after several minutes of poking my head under the hood and a crawling under the front of the truck a couple times I finally spotted the filter and began my task in earnest. I removed the plug to drain the oil, and once it was sufficently drained, I replaced the plug and was ready to move onto the filter.
The truck is still on the ground, and I'm laying on the ground with just enough clearance to move my arms & hands around to grip the filter, but not at a sufficient enough advantage to turn the filter. Long story short - an hour and a half later, it still wasn't off. I tried the filter strap wrench, but couldn't hardly get it around the filter let alone room to 'turn' it. I had a cap socket that was a little to big for the filter & would slip, even when trying to put 'filler' material in it to make for a more snug fit - the same socket fits perfectly on the new filter going to go on the truck, but different makes of filters are different shapse. So, I end up going to Auto Zone to see about buying an adjsutable socket thing I've seen around before, and end up buying the next smaller cap socket. I get home, and 5 minutes later the filters off - "That was easy."
After installing the new filter I start dumping the new oil into the fill whole, and it a light rain starts to fall I as pour in the last two quarts. Finally - mission accomplished.
Two hours later my family is sitting in office area in our basement waiting out the tornado warning for our area as a tornado (looking to be classified as an EF3 or EF4) hits Bridgeton MO and Lamber-St Louis International Airport, as well as causing damage to Berkley less than 2 miles south of our house.
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